Music Hall MMF CD-25 vs. Rotel RCD-1072

[Gordon Tanner]

I just had ChatGPT tell me that the Music Hall MMF CD-25 is considered a high end, audiophile-level CD player, whereas the Rotel RCD-1072, while regarded as good and solid, is an average, mainstream player and quite inferior to the Music Hall. I find that hard to believe. I always thought that they were around the same level of quality. Their original new retail prices were around the same, with the Rotel actually being a bit more expensive. So, I'm wondering, is anyone aware of, 1) Any A/B/X testing of the two and/or, 2) a side by side comparison of their respective specs and/or, 3) Any objective testing of the two, by ASR, Audioholics, etc? Amir, would you care to weigh in on this? And finally, what would be considered the best dedicated single disc CD player that supports HDCD? Thanks in advance, everyone.

 

[Roland68]

I just had ChatGPT tell me that the Music Hall MMF CD-25 is considered a high end, audiophile-level CD player, whereas the Rotel RCD-1072, while regarded as good and solid, is an average, mainstream player and quite inferior to the Music Hall. I find that hard to believe. I always thought that they were around the same level of quality. Their original new retail prices were around the same, with the Rotel actually being a bit more expensive. So, I'm wondering, is anyone aware of, 1) Any A/B/X testing of the two and/or, 2) a side by side comparison of their respective specs and/or, 3) Any objective testing of the two, by ASR, Audioholics, etc? Amir, would you care to weigh in on this? And finally, what would be considered the best dedicated single disc CD player that supports HDCD? Thanks in advance, everyone.

When forming an opinion in cases like this, ChatGPT operates on the principle that "millions of flies can't be wrong—shit tastes good."

I collect CD and SACD players and am also a fan of HDCD.
I wouldn't buy either of the players you mentioned; sonically, they aren't any better than others, and they are often vastly overpriced.
My recommendations for a good HDCD player are the Harman Kardon 750 or 760, the NAD C 542, or the OPPO BDP-80, 83/SE, 93, 95, 103/D, or 105/D.
Otherwise, take a look at the CD player reviews on ASR—such as those by @NTTY and others—as well as the lists of measurement data 870 digital sources from 1992 to 2025 ranked by THD provided by @Scytales.

 

[Redacted]

It's all made up. Ignore it!

 

[Chrispy]

Just cd's? So many great choices at a wide variety of pricepoints depending on the connectivity options you want. Don't overthink it, differences are minor generally.

 

[Gordon Tanner]

Just cd's? So many great choices at a wide variety of pricepoints depending on the connectivity options you want. Don't overthink it, differences are minor generally.

Yeah, just CDs and a few SACDs. I play the latter on my Sony UBP-X800 Blu-ray Player. I have over a hundred CDs that are mastered in HDCD, so I want a CD player that supports the format (the Blu-ray player doesn't). As far as other formats are concerned, I'm not interested. I don't support streaming for a number of reasons.

 

[Gordon Tanner]

When forming an opinion in cases like this, ChatGPT operates on the principle that "millions of flies can't be wrong—shit tastes good."

I collect CD and SACD players and am also a fan of HDCD.
I wouldn't buy either of the players you mentioned; sonically, they aren't any better than others, and they are often vastly overpriced.
My recommendations for a good HDCD player are the Harman Kardon 750 or 760, the NAD C 542, or the OPPO BDP-80, 83/SE, 93, 95, 103/D, or 105/D.
Otherwise, take a look at the CD player reviews on ASR—such as those by @NTTY and others—as well as the lists of measurement data 870 digital sources from 1992 to 2025 ranked by THD provided by @Scytales.

Roland, I agree with you about ChatGPT, but only to a point. Whenever I ask AI a question on a technical matter, like comparing two CD players, I always instruct it to not speculate or rely on opinions, but to tell me what the science and objective measurements say. I realize that AI is far from perfect, but at least it gives me some idea. I then do further research and ask questions from that starting point, hence my post here. I once owned an NAD C542. I had some issues with it. The visual aesthetic left a lot to be desired. I found the plastic black/gray/green face plate rather cheap looking. I prefer silver brushed aluminum. It was good sonically, but only until just after the warranty expired. Then it failed and required a $400.00 repair. I eventually gave it to a friend. I currently own both the Music Hall and the Rotel. I paid $250.00 CAD and $200.00 CAD for them respectively. I'm just wondering which one would be better for my system. I have a Musical Fidelity A3.2 Integrated, running a pair of Monitor Audio Silver RX8s and two RSL Speedwoofer 10Ss. I'll check out the info you've posted here. Thanks very much for providing it. Finally, I'll throw another player into the mix, one that I don't own - the Arcam FMJ CD23. Any thoughts?

 

[Chrispy]

Yeah, just CDs and a few SACDs. I play the latter on my Sony UBP-X800 Blu-ray Player. I have over a hundred CDs that are mastered in HDCD, so I want a CD player that supports the format (the Blu-ray player doesn't). As far as other formats are concerned, I'm not interested. I don't support streaming for a number of reasons.

Few players still have that particular ability for the "hdcd". I have many as well. Just not that important.

 

[Gordon Tanner]

Few players still have that particular ability for the "hdcd". I have many as well. Just not that important.

Fair enough. But I figure that if I'm gonna own a CD player anyway, I might as well have one that supports HDCD. But to each their own.

 

[Chrispy]

Fair enough. But I figure that if I'm gonna own a CD player anyway, I might as well have one that supports HDCD. But to each their own.

Good luck, that was like 20 plus years ago.

 

[Gordon Tanner]

Good luck, that was like 20 plus years ago.

I already own both of the CD players I mentioned in my original post and they're in good working order. I'm just unsure as to which one would be the better choice.

 

[Roland68]

Roland, I agree with you about ChatGPT, but only to a point. Whenever I ask AI a question on a technical matter, like comparing two CD players, I always instruct it to not speculate or rely on opinions, but to tell me what the science and objective measurements say. I realize that AI is far from perfect, but at least it gives me some idea. I then do further research and ask questions from that starting point, hence my post here. I once owned an NAD C542. I had some issues with it. The visual aesthetic left a lot to be desired. I found the plastic black/gray/green face plate rather cheap looking. I prefer silver brushed aluminum. It was good sonically, but only until just after the warranty expired. Then it failed and required a $400.00 repair. I eventually gave it to a friend. I currently own both the Music Hall and the Rotel. I paid $250.00 CAD and $200.00 CAD for them respectively. I'm just wondering which one would be better for my system. I have a Musical Fidelity A3.2 Integrated, running a pair of Monitor Audio Silver RX8s and two RSL Speedwoofer 10Ss. I'll check out the info you've posted here. Thanks very much for providing it. Finally, I'll throw another player into the mix, one that I don't own - the Arcam FMJ CD23. Any thoughts?

Since you actually own both players, why not get a friend to help you and run a completely blind test?
Any answer someone else gives you can only be worse.

 

[Mnyb]

Since allmost all of the so called information in the audiophile world is subjectivist nonsense all Ai query's will use flawed source material and thus also produce nonsense .

 

[NTTY]

The two share the same PCM1732 DAC from BB, so they are very likely to perform the same, provided the DAC is equally well implemented. That said the PCM1732 offered too possibilities to decompress the HDCD content, digital or analog, if I remember well and that could make a difference.

I trust Rotel by default, from my many experiences with their devices that never disappointed me, including on electronic design, reliability and serviceability perspective. Even their cheapest models deliver more than good enough.

I don’t know the other brand, so no comments.

I think I have a PCM1732 in a HK player but I never published the review. From memory it was good, and the limit was the -6dB attenuation at analog output (1Vrms vs 2Vrms) when playing non-HDCD content, which was inevitably dropping almost one bit of resolution. I’ll need to check if my memory failed me.

 

[Chrispy]

Fair enough. But I figure that if I'm gonna own a CD player anyway, I might as well have one that supports HDCD. But to each their own.

I already own both of the CD players I mentioned in my original post and they're in good working order. I'm just unsure as to which one would be the better choice.

Thought you were looking at alternatives, sorry. Neither supports HDCD, do they? HDCD is just not a great thing to dwell on IMO. Good luck, tho!

 

[Putter]

Having set up an HDCD library, I have some experience in this matter. The biggest advantage of HDCD is NOT better sound, but rather that SOME HDCD's have a greater dynamic range when played on a compatible CD player. Many HDCD's are no different sonically than regular CD's. The HDCD light will come on because it was mastered with a Pacific Microsonics machine. https://wiki.hydrogenaudio.org/index.php?title=List_of_HDCD-encoded_Compact_Discs is a useful reference for which HDCD's have a greater dynamic range. As for which player to use, listen to the mechanism with sound off and use the one which is quieter.

 

[Gordon Tanner]

Since you actually own both players, why not get a friend to help you and run a completely blind test?
Any answer someone else gives you can only be worse.

That's a good idea. I have a few people who'd be willing to do it.

 

[Gordon Tanner]

Since all most all of the so called information in the audiophile world is subjectivist nonsense all Ai query's will use flawed source material and thus also produce nonsense .

As I mentioned earlier, I agree about ChatGPT being unreliable, but only to a point. Whenever I ask AI a question on a technical matter, like comparing two CD players, I always instruct it to not speculate or rely on opinions, but to tell me what the science and objective measurements say. I realize that AI is far from perfect, but at least it gives me some idea. I then do further research and ask questions from that starting point, hence my post here.

 

[Gordon Tanner]

The two share the same PCM1732 DAC from BB, so they are very likely to perform the same, provided the DAC is equally well implemented. That said the PCM1732 offered too possibilities to decompress the HDCD content, digital or analog, if I remember well and that could make a difference.

I trust Rotel by default, from my many experiences with their devices that never disappointed me, including on electronic design, reliability and serviceability perspective. Even their cheapest models deliver more than good enough.

I don’t know the other brand, so no comments.

I think I have a PCM1732 in a HK player but I never published the review. From memory it was good, and the limit was the -6dB attenuation at analog output (1Vrms vs 2Vrms) when playing non-HDCD content, which was inevitably dropping almost one bit of resolution. I’ll need to check if my memory failed me.

They're both great CD players with, as you said, the same DAC chip. I'm just wondering which of the two would be the better choice. I admit that I'm being a bit OCD and splitting hairs here. But I'm leaning toward the Rotel, because of the good things that you mentioned about them. I've also had nothing but good experiences with their gear in the past, plus I prefer the Rotel's visual aesthetic over the Music Hall's.

 

[Gordon Tanner]

Thought you were looking at alternatives, sorry. Neither supports HDCD, do they? HDCD is just not a great thing to dwell on IMO. Good luck, tho!

Actually, they both support HDCD. As I said earlier, if I'm going to own a CD player anyway, I might as well get one that supports the format, as I have over a hundred CDs mastered in HDCD. I'm just wondering which of the two would be the better choice. At this point, I'm leaning toward the Rotel.

 

[Chrispy]

Actually, they both support HDCD. As I said earlier, if I'm going to own a CD player anyway, I might as well get one that supports the format, as I have over a hundred CDs mastered in HDCD. I'm just wondering which of the two would be the better choice. At this point, I'm leaning toward the Rotel.

So pick the one that has the feature set you need. Maybe keep the other as a spare. LOL I probably have at least two hundred in HDCD.